Woods takes blame for accident

Tiger Woods on Sunday described the early-morning car accident in which he plowed into a neighbor’s tree as “embarrassing” in his first public statement on the matter, but declined for the third day to speak with Florida Highway Patrol troopers and hired a high-profile criminal-defense lawyer to handle the case for him.

In a statement posted on his Web site Sunday afternoon, Woods accepted responsibility for driving his car into a fire hydrant and tree just outside of his driveway at 2:25 a.m. Friday and said his wife, Elin Nordegren, acted “courageously” to help him. He declined to provide further details, however, calling the incident a “private matter.”